Hobby site SeatGuru.com found a real business with Google AdSense.
Case study : SeatGuru.com : www.seatguru.com
Working on a project that took him repeatedly between San Francisco and Prague, Matt Daimler racked up a lot of air miles. During these long flights, he studied the seat configurations on various models of aircraft to determine which seats are the best, including proximity to such features as video monitors and power ports. Compiling these details inspired him to create a website, www.SeatGuru.com, to share his information. Daimler quickly began to get tips and anecdotes from other frequent fliers who visited the site, which led him to rank seat selections from "very good" to "bad."
Two years since he launched SeatGuru as a hobby, Daimler continues to have a day job. But his sideline has continued to grow: Today the site provides seating diagrams for more than 100 different planes. And it has gotten favorable press mentions in places like Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. All of this has required Daimler to invest more time – and money – to manage the site.
"Google shows targeted ads reflecting the sorts of information and services SeatGuru visitors want. For a small business like mine, this is the best approach to advertising." |
Approach
After some initial hesitation ("I did not want to put banners or pop-ups on the site," he recalls), Daimler joined several affiliate marketing programs along with an ad network that required him to sell the ads and maintain the advertiser relationships. He quickly learned "it wasn't worth the hassle for the meager return I got." Direct advertising was no easier. When he approached airlines directly for ad support, they said the site was too small.
A friend sent Daimler a customer case study about using Google AdSense,™ which interested him. Among other things, the story described an easy-to-use product that yielded $3,000 a month in ad revenue. "I have a high level of trust in Google," he recalls thinking, and he decided to try it. He calculated that since his page views were about one-third the number of those in the case study he read, he expected to make about one-third the revenue cited in the story. His results were considerably greater.
Initiating AdSense took very little effort, Daimler says, noting that within minutes he implemented AdSense ads on about 90 percent of the site's pages, "where it makes sense to serve ads and monetize traffic."
Results
"Google shows targeted ads reflecting the sorts of information and services SeatGuru visitors want," says Daimler. Ads appeared on the airline seating chart pages for airlinespecific discount fares, business class upgrades, airport parking, and the like. "For a small business like mine, this is the best approach to advertising," he says. "You set it up easily, it automatically serves relevant ads, and it takes very little of my time."
Today Daimler sees about 175,000 unique users and 650,000 page views a month. AdSense ads are his only source of revenue. Not only has SeatGuru attained the original revenue Daimler hoped for, it has exceeded it. As Daimler says, "AdSense really marked the turning point that changed my hobby into a business."
"AdSense really marked the turning point that changed my hobby into a business." |
Daimler uses several AdSense features, including channel reporting, to optimize the program's performance on SeatGuru. Channel reporting enables him to track the performance by specific site areas, ad format, ad colors, and more.
Initially, Daimler did not run ads on the home page, assuming they would not be effective until visitors had gone into the site. Using AdSense channels, however, he found quite the opposite: These ads on the home page registered more clickthroughs and greater revenue than did other sections. "Straight away, we saw very high value with channel reporting data," he says.
The AdSense support team also recommended Daimler try the 160 × 600–wide skyscraper ad unit. He converted a portion of the site to run ads in this format and tracked that portion using AdSense channels. Once more, he says, "there was an improvement in both CTR and earnings, so the entire site now uses that format, and has seen the same increases." Now Daimler looks forward to experimenting with channels for colors, position, and ad formats.
Daimler also takes advantage of AdSense features such as the filtering tool, which blocks ads he doesn't want to appear, and the reports, which he says have "very usable information in a great format." Whenever support questions arise, he says, "I always receive a reply within 24 hours. AdSense support has exceeded my service-level expectations."
Today, Daimler engages an accountant to maintain the finances, and SeatGuru.com has become a corporation. "Because I can count on the ad revenue from Google," Daimler says, "I can spend more time developing the site. I feel comfortable investing in it, knowing that it's bringing in money." His advice to others who may be inspired to create a web presence reflecting their interest? "Good content pays! Find your niche, create a good site, and use AdSense to make it worth your while. It's easy to set up, the ads are useful, and your users will like it."
About Google AdSense
Google AdSense is a program enabling online businesses to earn revenue from serving ads precisely targeted to specific web content and search pages. A broad universe of sites profit from AdSense, with service levels ranging from online sign-up to dedicated support management. Google's thousands of advertisers also benefit from AdSense by gaining exposure on sites across the Google Network, including AOL, Ask.com, Lycos, and EarthLink. Visit www.google.com/adsense.
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